With the rapid growth of developed land, interest and involvement in landscaping and gardening has increased dramatically. What was once viewed as a hobby has now grown into a multi-billion dollar industry. Developers seeking to establish an image for their communities provide spectacular greenscapes with floral backdrops. Business owners, too, look to adorn their properties with naturally decorated scenery. Individual homeowners recognize the equity value of a well-landscaped and maintained property. Furthermore, theme gardens and outdoor landscape retreat areas have realized a new popularity and are desired and enjoyed by many.
Creating and maintaining a beautifully adorned landscape, however, is not without effort. If a desired location is wild, the brush and weeds must be cleared and the soil prepared before planting or seeding can begin. If a landscaped site is to be redesigned, it must also be cleared of unwanted plaints and weeds and be prepared to receive new foliage. Furthermore, after a designed area is completed, continual maintenance including trimming, edging and pruning is necessary.
Typically, an individual preparing a site for planting would require a variety of tools. First, a grass or weed trimming device would be needed for initial clearing. For this task, a manual device such as a sickle, scythe or reaper, or a motorized rotating-line cutting device could be employed. After such initial clearing, a second tool is often needed to cut thicker brush. This step could rely upon a handsaw, heavy-duty shears or a chain saw. Finally, after clearing away unwanted brush and weeds, the soil would need to be prepared for planting, thus requiring yet another tool to be employed, such as a hoe or a tilling machine. As such, it is clear that the necessity of so many tools is disadvantageous.
Rotary cutting heads are known in the art. Examples of such devices may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,194 to Lee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,271 to Feldman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,782 to Calcinai and U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,685 to Hyams. However, in view of the present invention, these patents are disadvantageous.
For instance, the referenced patents do not provide for easily detachable and interchangeable heads that serve a multitude of applications. As such, these disadvantages limit the use of the above references for multi-purpose tasks.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a need for a landscape device with easily interchangeable heads, capable of performing a variety of functions including the cutting of plants and grasses and the cultivating of soil and thus preventing the above-discussed disadvantages.